Touring Europe, Envisioning Homeland: Istanbul in Two Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Travelogues

Abstract

European travel accounts of Ottoman lands as well as the commonly succinct reports of Ottoman diplomatic retinues on their visits to European cities have received sustained attention in urban and architectural histories. Similarly, much has been written about the diligent figures who wrote about their westward journeys such as Evliya Çelebi, Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi, Rifa’a al-Tahtawi, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, to name but a few. Yet, the Ottoman travel accounts written in the second half of the nineteenth century still provide untapped and valuable insight into the transformative Ottoman efforts, conditions, and ideas in the wake of the Tanzimat. This article concerns two Ottoman travelogues, Yolculuk Kitabı (The Book of Journey) by Hayrullah Efendi (1817–1866) and Seyahat Hatıraları (Travel Memories) by Dr. Şerafeddin Mağmumi (1860–1931), placing emphasis on travelers’ reflections of Istanbul during their travels across Europe. I argue that the Ottoman capital had a substantial impact on how travelers toured Europe and wrote about European cities alongside a broader framework encompassing how late Ottoman intellectuals discursively and materially conceptualized modernization. In particular, this article focuses on public parks and architectural heritage, which occupy a significant place in the travelogues, serving as two fundamental aspects of modern urban culture.